Monthly Archives: October 2022

Enlightened Cream of Tomato Soup

Warning – The story behind this soup is a long one. A melodrama in three acts as it were.

Act I

It all started with a chicken that I purchased some weeks ago, in order to get a single chicken liver to use in a Bolognese ragu. After removing the liver from the little packet stuffed inside the chicken, I put the neck back in the cavity, put the chicken in the freezer and made the Bolognese.

Act II

Two weeks later, I took the chicken out of the freezer, put it in a pot with some veggies and water and cooked it, giving me a meat to make soft tacos for the a couple of dinners and lunches. And also a gorgeous chicken broth, which I froze to use later.

Print Recipe

Chicken Broth and Cooked Chicken

Instructions

  • Wash chicken. Place it in a big soup pot along with chicken neck; an onion studded with 2 cloves and cut in half; a large leek, a large carrot and stalk of celery each cut into thirds; a turnip and parsnip cut into halves; a few sprigs of fresh thyme, and a handful of fresh parsley. Cover it all with cold water and for good luck add a small box of chicken bone broth (optional). Add a sprinkling of salt and pepper, simmer over low heat for a couple of hours till chicken is falling off the bone. Strain the broth, saving the chicken for later use, and refrigerate the broth overnight. De-fat and freeze in 3 cup batches.

All week I wondered what I should make with that broth. Motza ball or chicken noodle soup? Not in the mood for that. Risotto? Too heavy. White bean soup? Nah, not cold enough yet.

Act III

This morning, I sat down to get my costume ready for my friend’s birthday/Halloween bash tonight (sit down dinner, music and dancing). Its a big birthday for him, and I was excited to go. I was also kind of excited about our costume. We were going as a couple of idioms. I planned to tie apples, oranges and bananas from the bottom of my dress (low hanging fruit). Mr TBTAM would be a Catch 22 (No 22 pasted into a baseball glove, go Phils! ). Cute, right?

But first, as requested by our host of his guests, I did a rapid Covid test. And then I did another.

The results? Lets call them equivocal. (Here, see what you think, but know that the line in the pic is fainter than it looked in real life…)

I sent a pic of the results to my daughter, who works as a Covid liaison for the Department of Health, and her friends. It was unanimous – I was “positive”. I then uploaded the pic to the enormous text stream I have with my brothers and sisters and their spouses. They were unanimous. I was “negative”.

I had woken up feeling fine, but now, I was sure that I was starting to feel a little feverish, so I took my temp – normal. I did a third test, a different brand. An unequivocal negative.

What to do?

I think I’m probably negative. But, if I went to the party tonight and I’m an early positive, I’ve exposed a lot of folks to Covid, many of whom are in high risk groups. If I stayed home and I’m truly negative, the only evening that gets ruined is mine. I’d never forgive myself if someone got sick because of me, so I emailed our hosts my deep regrets. And immediately started to feel sorry for myself.

By this time, it was getting close to lunchtime. Mr TBTAM suggested grilled cheese – true comfort food for the woe begotten.

And then I knew what I had to make with the chicken broth. Cream of tomato soup.

But not rich, over buttery, cream-laden tomato soup. Something lighter, but with just a touch of creaminess. I didn’t have time to roast the tomatoes the way Cooks Illustrated and Ina Garten do, and as I will try next time I make this soup, but figured the home made broth more than made up for that. And I was right. The soup was wonderfully light but immensely flavorful.

The cheese sandwiches Mr TBTAM made us were also enlightened, using just and ounce or so of cheese for each, layered with tomatoes, red onion and a little mustard. He did toast them a little too dark, but I’m not complaining.

As we ate our delicious lunch, the warmth of the soup bathed my innards and I began to feel a little less morose. I sent some soup downstairs with Mr TBTAM to give to my daughter, who stopped briefly by on her way to Brooklyn with friends. She had it for her lunch, declared it a success and requested the recipe. That was all I needed to turn it into a great afternoon.

And tonight? Well, after all, it’s game 2 of the World Series, and the Phils won last night.

I think I’ll be fine.

ADDENDUM

Here’s my test from the next day. Unambiguously negative.

Print Recipe

Enlightened Cream of Tomato Soup

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 stalk celery, diced
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 2 tbsp flour
  • 2 28 oz can San Marzano Tomatoes, chopped
  • 3 cups Chicken Broth Preferably homemade
  • 1 Tsp Sea salt Add more to taste
  • 1 generous pinch saffron threads
  • Ground pepper to taste
  • 1/2 cup 2% milk
  • 1/4 cup Half and half

Instructions

  • In a large stockpot, melt butter over medium heat. Saute onions, garlic and celery till soft. Add flour and cook a minute. Add tomatoes, both and spices. Simmer uncovered for 40 mins.
  • Remove from heat and puree with immersion blender till smooth. Stir in milk and half and half and return to heat. Heat and serve.

Philly Block Party Lemon Bars

We’ve owned our house in the Fairmount section of Philly for almost three years now, in anticipation of the day when we are ready to trade money for time, give up the daily grind that is the price for life in New York City, and move back home.

Well, I’m here to tell you that day has come.

A little sooner than anticipated.

You see, our landlord has decided to sell our Upper West Side apartment, and is not renewing our lease. Though I adore the apartment (small, but airy and sunny and the nicest kitchen I’ve ever had), we’re not going to try to buy it. Now is not the time to sink any part of our life’s savings into a building whose infrastructure seems to be crumbling around us.

Since we moved in, the hot water supply in the apartment has been anemic and erratic – it takes almost a half hour to heat up the water in the shower in our apartment line. (Old pipes…) Thankfully, our upstairs neighbor gets up earlier than we do, and runs her shower while she’s working out so that by the time we wake up, we can all take a hot morning shower. (I love New Yorkers…)

Four weeks ago, the building failed a Con-Ed inspection and our gas was shut off. (Old gas lines…) That means we have no working stove or oven. And probably will not have for the duration of our lease, which ends in four months.

Don’t feel sorry for me. It’s not the end of the world. We have heat and hot water (as it is). I’m making do for now with a cheap hot plate, but our landlord is getting us a larger countertop burner and oven. (I’m praying it will accommodate a Dutch oven for bread making…)

We’ve taken all this – the hot water, the gas, the unexpected lease non-renewal – as a sign that it’s time to leave. Not just this apartment, but New York City. We’ve been dragging out this goodbye for almost three years, and now it’s time.

Truth be told, I think we needed the push. ‘Cause you know, I do so love New York.

But I also love Philly.

I love the fact that we won’t need to keep working to afford to live there.

I love that I’ll be so close to family. (My sis and I share an alley and my daughter lives a few blocks away and did I tell you she’s engaged???!!!).

I love that I have a little brick row house with a backyard and it’s all my own, on the VERY BEST BLOCK in Philly. It’s a few blocks away from where we lived when we first were married, just around the corner from an amazing coffee shop, a bodega and local grocery, the best Bahn Mi sandwiches sandwiches and burgers I’ve ever eaten, and the great Irish bar with music on Friday nights. A stone’s throw from the Schuykill River and the excellent biking on the river drives. (Although I’m still puzzling out where to store the bikes…)

This past Friday, my daughter, sis and her hubby joined us and our dear out-of-town friends for drinks at our house, which is still sparsely furnished and awaiting our move here early next year. After drinks, we walked a few short blocks for a delicious Italian dinner on an outdoor table bathed by a warm heater. We closed the place after 11 pm, stopping on our walk home to watch the last play of the Phillies-Padres game on the outdoor big screen at the Irish bar. To top off the evening, the Phils won.

Then on Saturday, as If I needed any more convincing to move to Philly, our block had a party. (Didn’t I tell you I live on THE VERY BEST BLOCK in Philly?). The weather was perfect.

They blocked the ends of the street off to cars and set up chairs and tables, a moon jump for the kids and a big screen TV for the game.

There was even a band!

And lots of food.

We contributed our wooden folding table and benches. And I made lemon bars. In my WORKING GAS OVEN.

We met the most interesting, lovely people. Everyone was warm and welcoming. I can’t wait to get to know them all!

At the end of the night, we gathered around the TV to watch the Phils win the game that put them into the World Series. A perfect Philly way to end the day. Or as my sis put it “…watching the Phils’ at a block party? You gotch’er bona fides!”

Philly, I’m coming home.

Print Recipe

Lemon Bars

This recipe is from Ina Garten. Be sure to use the correct sized pan (9x13x2in). My pan was small, so the bars were a little too high, though they tasted delicious!

Ingredients

Shortbread Crust

  • 8 ounces Butter At room temperature
  • 2 cups Flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/8 tsp salt

Filling

  • 6 Extra large eggs At room temperature
  • 3 cups Sugar
  • 2 tbsp grated lemon zest (4-6 lemons)
  • 1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 cup flour
  • Confectioner's sugar, for dusting

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit
  • Cream the butter and sugar until light. Combine the flour and salt and, with the mixer on low, add to the butter until just mixed and gather into a ball. Press it into a 9 x 13 x 2-inch baking sheet, building up a 1/2-inch edge on all sides. Chill for 30 mins. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until very lightly browned. Let cool on a wire rack. Leave the oven on.
  • Whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour. Pour over the crust and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the filling is set. Let cool to room temperature.
  • Cut into triangles and dust with confectioners’ sugar. Serve.

Blistered Shishito Peppers

Thanks to my daughter for turning us on to Blistered Shishito Peppers – a simple, fast, delicious and fun appetizer.

The Shishito is mild pepper brought to the US from Japan and now widely available here in the United States. We got ours from Trader Joes, but you can easily grow them in your home garden.

The Shishito pepper likely came to Japan from Spain, where it is called a Padron pepper and is much hotter. It is believed to have mellowed after generations of selective breeding in Japanese soil.

The fastest and most fun way to get to know Shishito is to toss them in a little olive oil,

blister them in a cast iron skillet on the stove top

toss with lime and salt and eat ’em while they’re hot !

Despite its mild Scoville score of 50-200, it’s said that every batch of Shishitos will have at least one really hot pepper. Ours had more than a few hotties. Not that we complained. We like it hot!

Once you’ve mastered the blistered Shishito, don’t stop there. There are many ways to serve these bites of delight beyond just scarfing them down as they come out of the skillet. You can make a Shishito Salsa and serve it with steak. Or serve the blistered peppers atop a Corn and Japanese Curry or with charred cauliflower in a picada sauce. Or simply serve them with a dipping sauce.

As for me, next time I make blistered Shishito peppers I plan to double down on the Japanese – I’ll cook them in sesame oil and toss them with furikake and lime.

Print Recipe

Blistered Shishito Peppers

An easy, fast, fun and delicious appetizer.

Ingredients

  • 6 ounces Shishito Peppers
  • 1 scant tbsp olive oil
  • Sea salt Or finishing salt such as Maldon
  • 1/2 lime, cut into wedges

Instructions

  • Rinse peppers then dry them well. Toss with just enough olive oil to coat, without any excess.
  • Heat cast iron skillet on med high heat till hot enough that a drop of water tossed into the pan bounces, sizzles and evaporates. Add peppers, distributing them evenly on the pan. Allow them to sit a few minutes to start to char, then begin turning them one by one so they char evenly on all sides. As they heat up, the peppers will expand and pop. This can be a little scary and cause burns, so avoid the popping by piercing the peppers with a tooth pick or tip of a sharp paring knife as they expand. As they become charred, they will loosen and shrivel down a bit, but should still retain their bright green color in non-charred spots. Remove them one by one as they become perfectly charred and place in serving bowl. The smaller peppers will cook and blister faster than the larger ones.
  • Toss with salt to taste. Serve warm with lime wedges.

Maccheroni alla bolognese

Before there was Stanley Tucci’s Searching for Italy, there was Regional Italian Cuisine, a cookbook tour of Italy’s regions through its foods and recipes. While Stanley’s show is a light aperitivo, this book is the ten course meal, with recipes for dishes that will make you feel like you’re one of the Famiglia.

Each chapter of Regional Italian Cuisine focuses on a different region of Italy, summarizing in sequential, gorgeous two-page spreads of perfectly balanced text and photos its climate, crops, food specialties, regional events and sights to see. It then follows with short, well-written recipes of dishes native to the region. Every single recipe has an accompanying photograph, and some have photos of the recipe in progress. The recipes presume some knowledge of cooking, but I’ve never found them lacking in needed detail.

I don’t know where or when I bought this gorgeous tome, or when I annotated its regional map of Italy with notes to summarize the foods made there (I’m always prepping for an exam…). I do know that for years, it’s been my go to for all dishes Italian. The book (and it’s update in 2008) is out of print, but available used at a reasonable price.

Craving Ragu Bolognese

Recently, I found myself craving a ragù bolognese and remembering the light bolognese lasagna my friend Fabrizio had served us some years back. Unfortunately, Fabrizio was in Rome and not immediately available to give me his recipe. So I turned to my mainstay Italian reference, where I found a recipe for Maccheroni alla bolognese.

The first thing I noticed was that this Bolognese has no milk or cream, an ingredient that seems to be ubiquitous in most ragù bolognese, including the one officially notarized in 1982 by the Bologna Chamber of Commerce. Nor does it have tomatoes, though tomatoes are offered as a variation for those who just cannot imagine a ragù without them. (I used a small amount of tomato paste). And it has a single chicken liver!

So is this really a Bolognese?

Yes! In fact, it is closer than many to the most famous early recipe for ragù bolognese, published in 1891 by Pellegrino Artusi in his book La Scienza in Cucina e l’Arte di mangiar bene (Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well). The translated recipe is below.

Maccheroni alla Bolognese (Macaroni Bolognese)

For this dish the people of Bologna used a medium-sized pasta called denti di cavallo (horse’s teeth), and I agree that this kind of pasta is best for cooking in this style. … The following proportions are approximate for seasoning 500 grams (a pound) or more of pasta. 150 grams lean veal (better if in fillets.) 50 grams pancetta. 40 grams butter. One quarter of a regular onion. Half a carrot. Two palm-length ribs of white celery or the herb portion of a green celery. Just a little pinch of flour. A little pot of broth. A small amount of salt, depending on the saltiness of the pancetta and broth. Pepper and nutmeg to taste.

Cut the meat into small cubes, chop the pancetta, onion and herbs with a mezzaluna, and put them under the heat with the butter. When the meat has browned add the pinch of flour and broth and continue cooking until it is done.

Drain the pasta thoroughly and toss it with Parmesan cheese and this sauce, which you can make even better by adding some dried mushrooms, or sliced truffle, or a bit of chopped cooked chicken liver. Finally, you can add a half cup of cream to the sauce at the end of the cooking to make it more delicate. In each case, it is best that the macaroni arrive at the table not dry, but bathed in a bit of sauce..

Note that Artusi does suggest adding a half glass of cream at the end of his recipe, but this is only a suggestion and is entirely optional, according to Thomas Gwinner, who published an impressive history of the ragù bolognese.

Let us remember for comparison with later recipes that Artusi uses twelve ingredients and offers three optional ingredients for his ragù bolognese recipe. The twelve ingredients are veal, pancetta, butter, onion, carrot, celery,flour, broth, salt, pepper, nutmeg and Parmesan cheese. The three optional ingredients are dried mushrooms or sliced truffles, chopped cooked chicken liver, and cream.

Gwinner goes on to cite an even earlier related recipe from Alberto Alvisi in the 18th century. that uses chicken gizzard and cinammon, but never mentions milk or cream.

Ragù per li maccheroni appasiciati (Sloppy Macaroni)
Put well-rendered lard, an ounce of butter, a finely chopped onion, and veal, pork loin or even some finely-minced chicken gizzard in a pot, and cook the mixture over high heat until nicely browned. Add the broth little by little along with an ounce of flour to give body to the sauce as it reduces. Be aware that this ragù must be neither too watery nor too thick, but perfectly cooked, and sufficiently flavored with salt, pepper, cinnamon or other spices. The pasta must then be perfectly cooked in meat broth or well-salted water before serving with the above mentioned ragù.

Drain the pasta thoroughly and put it into a large bowl. Add the ragù and give it a stir. It will suffice at least for a first course at lunch. It is essential that the dish be hot and well mixed before bringing it to the table. Please note that in order to give the above mentioned ragù more substance it may be necessary to unify the savory flavors by adding some finely chopped mushrooms or truffles.

Eataly and Lydia Bastianich have published ragù bolognese recipes without milk, so I think I’m in good company with this recipe. And check out Massimo Bottura’s ragù bolognese – not only does he omit the milk, he chops the meat himself ! (Well, his assistant chops it …)

While my recipe uses tubular pasta, these days it is considered traditional to serve ragù bolognese on tagliatelle (preferably homemade). Like Artusi, Bottura cooks his tagliatelle in the same broth he uses in his ragù, and then finishes the pasta off in a pan with the ragù. I think that will be my next iteration of this incredible dish.

Ragù bolognese is not your mama’s spaghetti sauce

It’s a whole different dish, a true meat sauce. Unlike your mama’s tomato sauce, it does not take hours to make and is light yet rich in flavor. You must try it.

Don’t be put off by the clove in this recipe – it’s there, but it’s not. Or the chicken liver – you cannot taste it individually, but it really enriches the flavor. Not to mention that you now you have something to do with the some of the giblets inside that chicken you just bought!

Print Recipe
5 from 1 vote

Maccheroni alla bolognese

Macaroni with meat sauce, Bologna style (Emilia-Romagna)

Ingredients

  • 1/2 pound ground beef
  • 1 chicken liver (1 ounce)
  • 2 thick slices bacon, minced (3 ounces)
  • 1 carrot, minced
  • 1 celery stalk, minced
  • 2/3 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
  • 1 lb Pasta I used pasta al ceppo
  • 1/2 cup beef stock Warmed, plus more to thin the sauce later if need be
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1 tsp flour
  • 1 onion
  • 1 whole clove
  • 1 bay leaf
  • Freshly ground nutmeg to taste I used about 1/2 tsp
  • 1 pinch cayenne pepper
  • salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
  • 3 tbsp tomato paste

Instructions

  • Melt butter in a large frying pan. Add carrot, celery and bacon and stir-fry lightly
  • Add ground meat and brown. Dust the meat with flour and add beef stock and tomato paste. Season w salt, pepper and freshly ground nutmeg. Add the clove and bay leaf. Simmer, covered, about 20 mins.
  • In a large pot bring 8 cups of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook al dente.
  • Mince the chicken liver and add to the ground beef. Cook 3-4 mins. Season again with salt and pepper and a pinch of the cayenne. Remove the bay leaf (and the clove if you can find it).
  • Drain the cooked pasta. Plate and top with the meat sauce. Serve with Parmesan cheese.

Notes

Variation – Peel and seed 11 ounces tomatoes, chop and cook together with the sauce.
Note – If you mistime the pasta and ragu, and the sauce thickens while you’re waiting for the pasta, just add some warmed beef stock or pasta water to thin the sauce out.
 

I was a poet and didn’t know it…

My poem entitled “Then and Now”, written at the height of the Covid Pandemic, has been published in Ascensus, the Weill Cornell Medicine Journal of the Humanities. It’s an in-house publication, started in 2013 and run by medical students to showcase the humanities at our medical school.

I was privileged to give a reading of my poem at the Ascensus 11th edition launch reception last evening. It was a joy to be with so many artistically minded medical colleagues, whose works ranged from poetry to prose, photography, painting and music. A special shout out to Courtney Lee for her moving poem “Hoarder”, to Koianka Tencheva, whose poem “My Dowry” brought tears to my eyes and to med student J Lind , whose emotional song lyrics were backed by some serious geetar playing. (You can find more on Spotify…)

Congrats to the Ascensus editorial team for another great edition of this wonderful journal, and to all my colleagues on their submissions.

THEN AND NOW

Then 
We lived in sweet, willful ignorance.
Nanoscopic particles bent on our destruction existed, surely, 
But attacked predictably, and only once a year
Allowing us to plan and fortify
With protein shields delivered through ethanol swabbed skin.
Few fell
But those who did
Passed within the soft embrace of love
Untainted by fear. 

Then
We lived and moved in shared spaces
Breathing the same air, 
Voicing the same songs,
Touching without fear, 
Hands grasping hands, 
Arms linking arms, 
Lips grazing lips, cheeks, foreheads. 

Then 
We blithely squeezed together in metal tubes beneath the streets,
Lined up tightly in shared anticipation,
Marched shoulder to shoulder on grand boulevards,
Brushed past one another in narrow halls and passages and
Mingled sweat and smell in crowded theaters and packed arenas.

Now
We live in isolation, 
Faces masked and drawn,
Warily walking along emptied streets
Past boarded stores and vacant food halls. 
We line up uneasily,
Pass gingerly,
Stand separately
Love guiltily.

Now 
We live and move in fear
Of this new predator 
And of one another. 
Those among us who fall
(And there are many)
Do so alone
Or at best, 
Watched from afar by faces on blue lit screens,
Witnessed by swathed strangers
Who stroke limp arms through gloved hands 
And whisper words of comfort
That pass between layers of three-ply polymer
And ricochet off polyurethane shields.

Margaret Polaneczky 11/19/20